Social Factors in User Perceptions and Responses to Advertising in Online Social Networking Communities

ABSTRACT

With the advent of popular Web destinations such as MySpace and Facebook, online social networking communities now occupy the center stage of e-commerce. Yet these online social networking communities must balance the trade-off between advertising revenue and user experience. Drawing on the sociology and advertising literature, this study investigates the impacts of social identity and group norms on community users’ group intentions to accept advertising in online social networking communities. By outlining how this type of group intention could influence community members’ perceptions and value judgments of such advertising, this study delineates possible mechanisms by which community members may respond positively to community advertising. The authors test the proposed theoretical framework on a sample of 327 popular online community users in China and obtain general support. Implications for the prospect of advertising in online social networking communities are discussed.

Keywords::

• Online social networking communities
• advertising responses
• social factors

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was supported by National Natural Science Foundation Grant (China) No. 70772044.

Additional information

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Fue Zeng (Ph.D., Wuhan University) is an Associate Professor of Marketing, Wuhan University, P.R. China, and an Academic Visitor at City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include network marketing, marketing ethics, and consumer behavior. She has published articles in Management World, Journal of Marketing Science, R&D Management, Systems Engineering-Theory & Practice, Economic Management, Business Economics and Administration, and Journal of Business Ethics, among others. E-mail: [email protected].

Li Huang (M. Phil., City University of Hong Kong) is a current Ph.D. student in the Department of Marketing, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her research interests include, but are not limited to, affect and judgment, social identity-based decision making, and advertising effectiveness in new media context. E-mail: [email protected]

Wenyu Dou (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin), is an associate professor in the Department of Advertising, Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include advertising effectiveness in the new media environment and client-agency relationships. He has published in the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Research, and others. E-mail: [email protected]